


by any other name

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Series: kasinara soulmate aus [6]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 13:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15642000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: Kasius laments his lack of a soulmate. Meanwhile, Sinara would rather get rid of her mark.





	by any other name

“It doesn’t matter,”his mother told Kasius any time she caught him miserably staring at the empty spot on his wrist.“Even if you had one, most people don’t meet their soulmates, let alone marry them.”

He agreed, because that was what was expected of him. Well, no, what was expected of him was to pay no mind to the possibility of soulmates and soulmarks at all. But the prospect excited him, and as a second son he’d even be able to wed his soulmate, provided they weren’t of too common birth. He secretly wished for a princess nevertheless.

What he got instead was no name at all.

* * *

“You have a name, don’t you?”Darillion asked, voice almost conspiratory.

Sinara looked at him blankly. He was right, but she didn’t know what had brought about the sudden question. But then, Darillion rarely made sense to her. He’d decided to be her friend the first day in the barracks, even though she was far too lowborn for him. The third son of a third son he stood to inherit nothing but a name, but that was still something.

“I know you do,”he insisted. He always was persistent. He’d nagged his way into her friendship, after all.“You never take the cover off.”

“So do a lot of people,”Sinara rebuked, pulling at the edges of her armband to make sure the writing wasn’t visible.

“Highborn people,”he said. From anyone else, it would have been an insult.“They don’t want to mess with their marriage prospects.”

There was a growing trend to tattoo your partner’s name onto your wrist. Sinara didn’t see the point. She found the squiggles on her skin rather presumptuous on the universe’s part.

Darillion scooted closer, almost tipping over the malech board between them.“So, who is it?”

Sinara shrugged.“I can’t read.”

“I could read it for you,”he offered without hesitation.

She quickly shook her head. Her parents had told her to never show the name to anyone. It was a long name. Only highborns had a name that long, what with their houses and all.

It wouldn’t do for anyone to think she was getting ideas above her station.

* * *

 Kasius hated signing documents with a passion.

Every time he put his name down, all he could think of was how that signature did not adorn the wrist of someone meant for him, someone destined for him.

He’d cultivated his signature when he’d learned how to write, making sure it wouldn’t be sloppy in the least. It felt like a waste of time now.

He was far too old for his soulmate not to know how to write by now. Clearly he did not have one.

The only satisfaction he got on the matter was that Faulnak did not have one either.

* * *

“Come on, I showed you mine,”Azale whined, reaching out to grasp Sinara’s wrist.

She slapped her hand away, then cradled her arm against her chest to keep the mark save.“Yeah. Irelle. That could be anyone, Aza. And I didn’t ask you to show me in the first place.”

“You won’t get it out of her,”Darillion said from his spot on the floor. They’d all had a little too much of the contraband liquor.“I’ve been trying for years. Since before you even showed up.”

“You’re just jealous because Sin likes me better.” Azale tried to nudge him with her foot, leaned too far, and fell off the bed.

“I hate you both.” Sinara rolled her eyes, leaning her head against the wall. Everything was spinning.“Anyway, there’s nothing to show. It’s not even proper letters.” She’d never admit it, but she had been disappointed when she’d learned how to read and it had still made no sense. “It’s - I don’t know. Squiggles.”

“Maybe it’s a different language,”Azale suggested.

“I know some,”Darillion said. He sat up, holding onto the edge of the bed for balance.“Just show me a bit. See if I know the language.”

Sinara considered this for a few moments. Surely there was no harm in that?

“All right,”she finally agreed, carefully arranging her armband so he could see the beginning of her mark.

To her confusion, he burst out laughing.“That’s not another language. That’s just cursive. That’s a K. Little stylised, sure, but it’s just cursive.”

Cursive. Of course some highborn twit couldn’t just write like a normal person.“Aza? Wanna trade soulmates?”

* * *

The keypad didn’t recognise her fingerprints. Great. That’s what she needed on top of this piece of shit the day had already been. Hot-wiring an Imperial Carrier.

She was already prying open the control panel when Kasius’ hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Let me,”he said. “You should sit down.”

She threw him an irritated look. As if he knew anything about machines.“Something’s wrong with the thing. It doesn’t take my prints.”

“Sit down,”he repeated, pressing his thumb to the keypad. The carrier instantly came alive.“It won’t take your prints because you’re bleeding all over yourself. And now _sit down_.”

She sat down reflexively, looking at her hands with mild surprise. They were indeed caked in blood, though she highly doubted all of it was hers. There was a nasty cut on her arm she had no memory of getting. She’d probably need stitches.

Their coordinates set, Kasius fetched a medical kit for her. He grimaced at the sight of the wound, but moved closer anyway.“Let me help you.”

“Thank you,”she said. She knew the effort it cost him to even look at this much blood. But she couldn’t take care of this one-handed, especially with her non-dominant hand.

He was cleaning away her blood and they noticed it at the same time: Her armband had come off when she’d been cut.

Sinara pulled her arm away from him, heart racing faster than it had in battle, pressing her arm against her chest so he couldn’t see her mark.

“You have a soulmate.” There was surprise in his voice. There was disappointment.

“You don’t?” It wasn’t really a question, not with that look on his face.

He shook his head anyway.

* * *

“Don’t even think about it,”Sinara said without opening her eyes.

Kasius’ fingers dropped away from her wrist a little too fast for her to believe him when he said,“I wasn’t.”

She turned her head to look at him after all. The room was half-dark but she could see him blushing anyhow. She wondered what was wrong with her brain that she found that oddly endearing.“Why do you want to know so badly?”

“I don’t,”he protested.“I’m just a little curious why you’re so adamant that you won’t show me.”

“It just doesn’t matter,”she said.“You act like it does.”

He fell silent. She closed her eyes again, assuming the matter was settled.

“Don’t you want to find them?”he asked. His voice was soft but there was a strain to it, too. Like he actually considered it a possibility that she would leave him in search of some idiotic notion of a soulmate.

“Find them?” He really was being ridiculous. Couldn’t he just let her sleep? She rolled onto her side to look at him. He looked genuinely concerned, the idiot. She sighed.“Why would I? I’ve got you.”

It wasn’t until he pulled her into a lip-bruising kiss that she realised her words had sounded an awful lot like a confession of love.

She blamed the lack of sleep for that.

* * *

Sinara was tracing the letters on her wrist through the covering absently. After years of doing her best to ignore them, she had been thinking about them an awful lot lately. Damn Kasius and his ridiculous obsession with the matter.

She didn’t so much think about going away in search of her so-called soulmate, she rather wondered whether she already had. Darillion had told her the name started with a K, and if there was one person extravagant enough to unnecessarily embellish an already posh form of writing… well, if the shoe fit.

Of course, there was the matter of Kasius not having a soulmark. But as far as Sinara could recall, she had never physically written down anything, and definitely not her name. If she had no handwriting, her soulmate could have no mark.

“You’re quiet today,”Kasius interrupted her thoughts.

Sinara tilted her head to the side, wordlessly staring at him until he realised the idiocy of the statement.

“Even quieter, then. Which is saying something.” He offered a small smile.“You seem a thousand leagues away. It’s a little concerning.”

She didn’t have an answer for that.“Do you know cursive?”

“Of course.” If he was surprised at the complete non-sequitur, he did not show it.

“Can you show me how to spell my name like that?”

A spur of the moment decision. Once she’d written her name, she’d know. Of course, so would Kasius, if she was right. But she’d just have to deal with that if it happened.

She didn’t think she would have recognised her own name like that if someone had shown it to her without context. Carefully, she copied every letter as closely as she could.

“Why did you want to know,”Kasius started but she was already reaching across his desk, taking a hold of his arm and pushing back his sleeve.

And there, clear as day, was her name.

* * *

“Sinara?”

“Kasius?” She’d never get any sleep for the rest of her life, it seemed. He always found something he just _had_ to talk about. She couldn’t quite bring herself to mind.

And, for the sake of fairness, he’d only found out he had a soulmate afterall mere hours ago.

“Did you ask how to write in cursive because you knew I’d like my mark not to be so bland?”he asked.

She was silent for a few seconds.“Maybe.”

With her head resting on his chest, she felt him chuckle more than she heard it.

“Thank you,”he said. And then,“I love you.”

“Of course you do,”she teased.“We’re soulmates.”


End file.
